Recalcitrant Peasants Dbq

The first and most direct impact was that it led to a serious shortage of agricultural labor. Human labor was one of the most important elements in agriculture, especially in the Middle Ages, when agricultural technique and devices hadn’t been well developed. The high mortality and the lasting depopulation during the Black Death “led to an acute shortage of labor in the countryside” (4) thus impairing the productivity.

A rally cry prominent in the time of the Revolution, the phrase “taxation without representation” morphed into a crucial point of contention in the

Lorenz Fries stresses this anger in his report to the Archbishop of Wurzburg, as he describes the wealth’s inability to share their profits and income with the poor (Doc 8). The peasants believe they are entitled to a share of wealth because all are considered to be brothers in the public eye of God. Considering Fries’s report is secret, it most likely states his candid opinions (Pov3). Although economic oppression is a crucial factor in pushing the revolt, Protestant influence is responsible for the revolt as well.

The French Revolution was a time of great social, political and economic tumult in the closing years of the Eighteenth Century. The motivators pushing French citizenry toward revolution are varied in scope and origin. They range from immediate economic woes to an antiquarian class structure. Modern historians still debate the value of the changes that the revolution brought to modern society. The middle class made gains that would never be rescinded, but do revolutions always end in tyranny? In the years before the revolution citizens were rigidly constrained by the estates of the realm. These social strata had been in place since the medieval ages. The people were divided into three groups; clergy, nobility and everyone else. The clergy

Although the feudal system presented a mutually beneficial relationship at first, over time many burdens were placed on the vassals. A serf was bound to the land, thus resulting in a fixed income. Since he was unable to move to another lord, he was reliant on only what was originally agreed upon to provide monetary support. [Support was generally in kind, or in labor.] With no “right” to adjust the support needed for survival, the serf and his family experiences tremendous hardships.

More socioeconomic gradations developed among peasants as some, especially more prosperous ones…” (“The economic impact of the Black Death” 2012). After the decline of population, landlords began to change the focus of their production and begin to raise sheep, and cultivate more land at one time. the decrease in population caused by the plague increased the wages of peasants.”Lords began to realize they had less control over workers and began to change what they produced. Many workers were needed to grow and harvest grain, so some lords began to raise sheep instead. Raising sheep required fewer workers…” This requiring less workers, but because there were less people, women began to play a role in the working “middle class”.

Most of the peasants within the European countries were constantly maltreated throughout history, since they were incapable of expressing their urgent dilemmas in the government. Once absolute monarchs became dominant, the peasants were approached inadequately by the monarch and the nobility. So in 1769, the Commision of Enquiry of the Peasants of Bohemia were sent to the Counsel State of Vienna, which states that the nobility and monarchy carelessly place all the taxes on the peasants of Bohemia(Doc4). The peasants of Bohemia then understand that the absolute monarchy and nobility must equally distribute the taxes of a country(Doc 4). Ideally, the peasants of Bohemia would applaud the government and nobility highly if all classes were taxed equally.

From 1524 to 1526 peasant revolts were occurring throughout the German states. Many causes and responses brewed out of these revolts. One cause is from religion issues (1,3,6) , Luther’s idea of equality. Another cause is the peasant gaining power (2,8,9). As a result of these causes came out response, the most common response was riots and chaos (5,11,7). These revolts would end in thousands of rebel deaths and others are also killed.

With labor shortages apparent, people began to starve due to a lack of farming because people had abandoned their farms and villages. The *Serfs at the time were the main laborers, and due to the inevitable plague they were no longer tied to their masters of land. Due to the economic strain at the time, Serfs who survived were able to demand higher wages and better working conditions from their new landlords (Utah State University). Therefore, worker’s wages had skyrocketed. It was known that “a reaper was not to be hired for less than eightpence [a day, 50-75% up], plus his meals,” (The Economist). This eventually led to the end of Serfdom and the start of workers rights in Europe. This in turn socially changed the way people felt about the different socioeconomic classes due to the Peasant's Revolt (Utah State University). The need for better working conditions and situations for Serfs forever changed Europe.

The Bubonic Plague, or better known as the Black Death, was a pandemic disease that swept across Western Europe in the 1300s that ultimately killed one-third of the population. Such a devastating disease called for drastic changes, one being the weakening of manorialism. Partly due to the Black Death, the crucial economic system in the Middle Ages known as manorialism, was weakened. On a fief, there was a piece of land called a manor, which was owned by a lord who was often a noble. The serf was someone who was not able to buy land, so they lived on a manor.

During 1789 and decades prior, peasants toil in the fields and reap the diminishing wheat stalks. Bound by the law set by the king, they suffered paying the nobility’s and clergy’s expenses with whatever income they had. When not in desperate poverty, the Third Estate would muster any energy to exert disdain to their king, indifferent behind palace walls. With Voltaire's and Rousseau's conceptions, commoners imagined a government where the nation was in potency, not the monarch. Yet, King Louis XVI taunts this bubbling tension by claiming these privileges were well-deserved, insinuating that his people were literal breadwinners, obligated to pay tribute. With high tax rates, a radical government where the people were free of ridicule circulated

The uneven compensation for work completed by German peasants fueled their disdain for the nobility. The forced serfdom of the peasants was an undesirable situation to be in, which caused the peasants to question the motives of the nobility. “The Articles of the Peasants of Memmingen” shows how peasants were forcibly repressed into serfdom unless they paid the “lords” a “reasonable amount of money” (Doc 4). The peasants had to pay for their freedom from serfdom, which explains why “they believe the rich should share with the poor, especially those rich persons who had acquired their rich property… or had otherwise won it from the poor” (Doc 8). The peasants realized the oppression that the nobility was putting them through with unfair acquisition of land and of peasantry serfdom that the peasants felt that their

DBQ: German peasant’s revolt “We will not allow ourselves here after to be oppressed by our lords but will let them demand only what is just and proper” (doc 2). The German peasant’s revolt in 1524 was largely due to the unjust treatment and laboring of the peasants. In turn the peasants showed their displeasement by banding together and pillaged the homes of the wealthy across the Holy Roman Empire. The conflict shows and unstable system where a better alternative could have been reached with better cooperation from both sides.

Although Appleby is wrong in this assertion, as we know that there were in fact examples of peasant struggle for rent, as Moore describes, that showed they were not utterly stagnant and resistant to change with the established feudal system. For example, in “The Peasant War in Germany” by Frederick Engels, peasants demands are listed as a result of their frustration with the current system of living conditions they are under.

The first wave of peasant revolts during the religious wars took place in the southwest in Provence, Vivarais, and Dauphiné. Around 1580, on both banks of the Rhône, in Languedoc, and Dauphiné, the large-scale peasant revolts happened simultaneously with the Razats uprising in Provence after a period of non-peasant revolts from the mid-century. The revolts began in Vivarais and reached its climax in Dauphiné and gradually shifted to the south and then to eastern regions. I have also kept this approach and started off with the revolts accounts of Provence, then famous peasant revolts of Vivarais and Dauphiné and I finished the chapter with the Croquants of Languedoc and Campanelle in the 1590s.